By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Monday night's 2 1/2-hour Dowagiac Union Schools "climate" work session at Southwestern Michigan College is designed to develop data-driven decisions and a direction for the district.
For more than 50 people who participated, including parents, students, teachers, staff members, administrators, board members and the community at large, their brainstorming is a way to share input and to impact the process that in March will build a strategic school improvement plan, what Superintendent Larry Crandall likes to call a "road map."
Such a plan will never be complete, Crandall said, but the district will come back to it to reassess and revise as part of an ongoing collaborative process meant to assure a "foundation for success."
With so many segments of the schools working toward common goals, school climate can be a "spring board" to more positive developments, Crandall said.
It could be an "important legacy" that outlasts the personalities arrayed around SMC's Mathews Conference Center West.
The chart providing a visual representation of the three- to five-year strategic plan model for Dowagiac Union Schools is a circle of continuous improvement.
Board of Education President Randy Cuthbert recalled that it was at a retreat 1 1/2 years ago that the district developed the goal to continue to improve the school climate. Last October it was decided that the best way to gauge perceptions was through a grant-funded survey conducted by Bill Banach of Ray Township.
Chairs, administrators, two board members and a parent devoted the day Jan. 28 to disaggregating the data. Breaking off into seven small groups Feb. 7, participants discussed the findings, reviewed Banach's recommendations - he will visit Feb. 18 - and brainstorm "interventions" that will be the first step in developing action plans spelling out who will do what and by what timeline. To start, each school reported on what the survey identified as its strengths to build upon and areas of concern for more attention.
Overall, Banach pronounced the district very "healthy," said Curriculum Director Dawn Conner, who has worked most closely with him in implementing the survey, which examined academics, food service, transportation, maintenance, customer friendliness and attitudes, among other areas.
The survey elicited input from 1,373 parents and community members, 225 staff members and 1,692 students.
Dowagiac parents view their schools more favorably than the Gallup Poll (75 percent giving grades of A and B, compared to 70 percent) and none issuing a failing mark (4 percent, Gallup Poll).
Banach identified seven "focal areas." While communication between teachers and parents appears relatively strong, a couple of "enhancements" would increase ratings in this area because 63 percent of parent respondents say that teachers regularly make comments about their child's schoolwork and give suggestions for improvement, yet 23 percent of parents were neutral and 14 percent of parents disagree.
Seventy-nine percent of parents tend to agree that report cards help them understand how well their child is doing in school, 15 percent of parents are neutral and 5 percent disagree.
Seventy-seven percent of parents feel reasonably well-informed about how their child is doing in school, yet 15 percent of parents are neutral and 9 percent disagree.
Sixty-three percent of staff say they effectively communicate with parents.
Banach suggests forming a district task force of teachers to review the survey results and to develop recommendations for strengthening teacher-parent communication. A starting point would be to address ways of making comments about student work and providing more frequent progress reports.
In Focal Area II, Banach said student discipline and respect for others merit creation of two secondary-level task forces - one of parents, teachers and administrators and the second of teachers, administrators and students - to address shortcomings in district discipline policies and to address the topic of "respect for others." One sentiment voiced in the small groups was that enforcement is "inconsistent."
Sixty-five percent of parents agree with the way discipline is handled in the school district, compared to 9 percent who disagree. Forty-six percent of students grades 6-12 agreed with the way student discipline is handled; 30 percent disagree.
Seventy-five percent of parents say the school district does a good job of teaching citizenship, yet only 51 percent of parents tend to agree that students in the school district show respect for one another. Twenty-two percent of students say students show respect for one another at their school.
In Focal Area III, transportation services received A's and B's from 74 percent. While this is a relatively high grade, 10 percent of parents gave bus service D's and F's. Banach said the low marks should be identified and corrected because they reflect negatively on the entire transportation department. An administrator-bus driver task force could address this topic. Survey results should be shared with bus drivers so they understand the important role they play in shaping perceptions of the school district.
Under Focal Area IV, in the organizational effectiveness composite, staff members evaluating 26 statements rated lowest (2.4 on a 4.0 scale), "Our staff effectively communicates with one another." Not far behind at 2.5 was, "Our staff works together as a team." Banach said these topics should be explored in two focus panels composed of principals and teachers - one each at the elementary and secondary levels.
While 75 percent of the staff understands its mission (Focal Area V), two focus panels composed of principals and teachers should address these responses: 65 percent of staff has a planning process through which it continuously improves; 64 percent of staff thinks systematically and strategically; 61 percent of staff has a vision; and 60 percent of staff has a "big picture," future-focused orientation.
In Focal Area VI, principals and others responsible for communicating to the community at large should assess their methods and content against the findings reported to questions, "What types of school information interests you?" and "What do you think are the three best indicators of a good school or a quality education?"
Half of the respondents to the community survey tend to agree that they are reasonably well-informed about what's going on in the school district. Eighty percent do not have school-aged children. Forty-nine percent are 55 years or older. Twenty-eight percent have not set foot inside a Dowagiac school in the past 12 months.
Despite those demographics, respondents expressed interest in school information. They are most interested in students' academic performance, the curriculum and school goals and priorities.
Newspapers are the leading source for school information (24.3 percent), followed by school publications (18.9 percent), district publications (14.8 percent), radio and TV (11.7 percent), children/students (9.5 percent) and friends/neighbors (8.8 percent).
In the final Focus Area VII, parents, other community members and staff all tend to agree that the Dowagiac Union School District is providing a quality education program, despite limited financial resources.
At the time the surveys were administered in the fall of 2004, Michigan schools were entering their third year without an increase in the $6,700-per-student foundation level in funding from the state. Gov. Jennifer Granholm was forecasting a billion-dollar shortfall for the current fiscal year.
Despite Michigan's financially turbulent times, Banach said, it appears Dowagiac is making gains in the enhancement of its curriculum. He said staff members should be encouraged to continue their curriculum enhancement and alignment activities because - in the perception of parents, students, other community members and staff - they are making a positive difference in quality of instruction.